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Chapter Ten: Magazines 2
Magazines and the Marketplace: Demographics at Work
• Therefore, magazines that limit themselves to specialized interests create the best possible markets for some advertisers.
• Sometimes advertisements will change according to the area of the country. For example, people in the northeast and Midwest may receive the same issue of Sports Illustrated, but may have different advertisements, because people in these areas of the country have different interests.
• Television has driven many magazines out of business because advertisers are able to reach a much wider audience with televised commercials.
• Demographics are the measurement of the kinds of people who access a type of media. This information includes the age, income, interests, etc. of these people.
• Advertisers choose to work with magazines because, through subscriptions, magazines are able to compile very specific demographic data.
• If you wanted to sell a kit to chrome-plate an automobile engine, the best place to advertise would probably be in a special-interest magazine.
• It would be pointless to advertise this in Time or Reader’s Digest because, although it would reach a bigger population, the odds of them wanting to chrome-plate their engines would be much rarer.
Conclusion
The Origins of
Magazine Content
• The publisher is the person who starts the magazine and is the person with the idea and money needed to make the magazine work.
• The publisher hires an editor, who finds articles for the magazine and has the responsibility for the content of the magazine.
• The actual writing in the magazine isn’t done by the publisher or editor. There are staff writers who work full-time for magazines. There are also freelancers, who are usually hired to write one or two articles.
• Freelancers usually write for multiple publications.
• Time and Newsweek usually just have staff writers, which is a rare practice.
• Most magazine articles are written by freelancers. Publications will receive thousands of articles from people through the mail or via email. The quality of writing can range from professional to amateur. This is a difficult way to make a living.
• The best way for freelance writers to get their articles published is by reading the publication they want to write for in order to familiarize themselves with the types of articles it publishes.
• Then, the writer may send their article in, sometimes with a cover letter describing its contents. If the magazine responds positively, the editor may suggest some minor or major changes before adding the article to an issue of a magazine. Once accepted, an article could be published anywhere from one to eight months later.